


Daddy and His Gun

by almygdala



Category: Original Work
Genre: 200 words, Coyotes, Flash Fiction, Gothic, Horror, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Original Fiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Short, Short Story, Southern Gothic, Surreal, gun - Freeform, swamps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almygdala/pseuds/almygdala





	Daddy and His Gun

The howling usually began around midnight, when the moon was full and heavy in the sky, and the smell of wet grass and swamp water hung in the air like the musk of a dying animal. Your daddy had a feud with the coyotes, so he told you. Said they took things from him, rusty keys, old glass bottles, dirty nails. Said they were smart, said they had to be watched. So he sat on the porch, every night, around midnight, with his old war rifle, as you laid in your bed and listened to the howls. There was one hot night, sometime in July, when you had woken after a bad dream. Before you, in the peeling door frame, stood a coyote, with firefly eyes and muddy fur. It smelled of mold and sickness, and your dream came back to you as a vision: of exhausting heat, of a stinging in your chest, of the rank water of the swamp, of a final peace. The coyote was gone when you opened your eyes. When morning came, your daddy told you the coyotes had taken your mama’s wedding ring, hidden safely in a drawer. They were smart, he said, that’s for sure. 


End file.
